Life expectancy is down across the United States for the second year in a row — from an average of 77 years in 2020 to 76.1 years in 2021 — with much of the drop attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic. But an even more troubling and persistent trend is evident in the data presented earlier this year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Black Americans are still expected to live much shorter lives than white, Asian and Hispanic Americans, with their average life span last year pegged at 70.8 years. That’s 5.6 to 12.7 years fewer than those other racial categories. In fact, Black men are consistently shorter lived than all other groups except native Alaskans (where a chronic lack of medical care is a major factor for the isolated population).
So, why are Black lives so much shorter? Maryland’s statistics from 2020, the latest year for which state and local numbers are available, offer a major clue.
While the state’s overall life expectancy is 78.6 years, the number for Black individuals living in Baltimore City is 69.7, a nearly nine-year difference. Meanwhile, white city residents have a life expectancy of 75.7 years. This might lead the casual observer to assume the discrepency might be a matter of race. But it really isn’t about race at all. It’s a matter of income an opportunity.
